Time for a Change in the Life Cycle of a Leafhopper
Category: Nature
Photo and caption by Lesley Roy
Leafhoppers are the tiny insects you see hopping around in the grass. It's more the movement you notice than the creatures themselves because they are so small. I noticed something unusual in the lawn and tried to get a few photographs. The quality of the photo may not be the best but how often do you see a leafhopper moulting? They start off as eggs which hatch into nymphs which don't have wings. They then go through five stages, instars, where they shed their skin to grow bigger and develop wing buds which you can just see in this photo. Finally they will emerge as adults with wings.
Location: Morinville, Alberta
